Car chargers, USB chargers, wall chargers, camera battery chargers, adapters, dongles, card readers and power cords are part and parcel of the modern world's mobile lifestyle. When I leave the house with my laptop and iPad, I don't feel prepared unless I'm toting six pounds of cords and cables with me. Hey, a giant meatball could come out of the sky and snarl traffic indefinitely and I might get stuck in a Starbucks or something and then I would be really glad I had my cord pouch with me.
Anyway, enough about my paranoid fear of never having enough battery charge... organizing your cords, cables and chargers while preventing them from tangling is the next challenge. I've tried a bunch of solutions over the years and these are the ones I think come out on top. As a bonus, they're all under ten bucks!
Velcro One Wrap Cable Ties
These are perhaps the most basic of all the solutions, but I'm a big fan of the philosophy that sometimes the best solutions are the simplest ones. They come in colors, which I like (don't you get sick of everything being black and grey??) and you can NOT beat the price!
I just got one of these at The Container Store and I'm using it for my earbuds. (Earbuds flopping all around my purse makes me CRAZY) Bonus cute factor, from just the right angle, the AppleCore looks like
teeny tiny little butt cheeks. LOL…
Gear Ties
These are super handy to have around the house. With a bendable interior wire and a squishy outer coating, they're great for staking tomato plants, closing up snack bags, AND controlling rogue computer and device cords.
Cable Turtles (See photo above)
These rubber donuts open up to reveal a center spool, and the outer edges fold back down over the cord to keep it out of sight. The mini and small both fit the "under ten bucks" criteria and accommodate cords up to 27 inches and 3 feet, respectively.
Q-Knot
It seems as if I've tried every cable and cord controller on the market, huh? LOL… I've used a lot and I do like these. They're very stretchy, they're easy to use, and unlike traditional plastic zip-ties, you don't have to cut them open. You just pull them apart and reuse them. Also, I love things that offer me fun color options and Q-Knot does.
Bongo Ties (See photo above)
This is the product you look at and think, "Dangit why didn't I invent this??" Bongo Ties are essentially a mutated golf tee on a sturdy rubber band that you wrap around a cord bundle. Duh, right? Love 'em! You can see a Bongo Tie at work on the large yellow cord in the picture above. Yeah, I still travel with an ethernet cable. So sue me.
What are your favorite ways to control cords, cables and ten thousand chargers? I haven't tried them all quite YET but I'm game!
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